An online presence is essential to contemporary forms of interaction between entities including individuals and businesses. An online presence opens different mediums with which one can communicate with other entities. This includes communicating via email, social media messaging (e.g., Twitter® Tweets®, Facebook® posts, etc.), instant messaging, and the like. Also, an online presence yields an informational and/or promotional platform from which one can learn about a specific entity without having to directly engage with that specific entity.
An online presence can be established by creation of a profile at one or more different service providers. Some such service providers at which an online presence (i.e., profile) can be established include (1) email service providers (e.g., Gmail® and Yahoo® Mail), (2) social media service providers (e.g., Facebook and Google+™), (3) networking service providers (e.g., LinkIn® and Manta®), and (4) reviews service providers (e.g., Yelp®, CitySearch®, and CityGrid®). Any entity can create a profile for itself with any such service provider. However, it is equally easy for a first entity to create a profile that misleads others into believing that the source of the created profile is a second different entity. This occurs because some service providers do not verify the profiles that they host. As a result, the first entity can use the created profile to impersonate the second entity online without the second entity's knowledge. In so doing, the first entity can disseminate inaccurate or false information that is attributed back to the second entity, resulting in damage to the actual real-world credibility of the second entity. Furthermore, the unverified profile can be used to perpetrate fraud, identity theft, and other wrongful acts and crimes.
Unverified profiles also exist when service providers automatically create profiles and thereby an online presence for different entities. This occurs, for example, on review sites where a profile is created for a particular entity so that others can comment and post reviews about the particular entity. In such instances, the entities are unaware that these automatically created profiles exist and are therefore unaware of the full extent of their online presence.
An online presence is also based in part on the information that various service providers host about or relating to different entities. This may include information that is presented in association with the profiles that are hosted by the service providers. This may also include information that is not associated with any profile, but is used in conjunction with other informational or promotional services provided by the service providers. For example, a service provider may host a directory of business listings. Some service providers acquire their information from sources other than the entity to which the information references or relates. Moreover, the service providers do not verify the information with the authoritative source who is the entity to which the information references or relates. As a result, the information may be outdated, inaccurate, or falsified. The outdated, inaccurate, or falsified information can damage the entity's credibility and be used to perpetrate fraud, identity thefts and other wrongful acts and crimes.
Yet another issue affecting an entity's online presence is inconsistent information. As a first service provider gains popularity and a second service provider wanes in popularity, an entity may forego updating its information at the second service provider while continuing to update its information at the first service provider. The entity's online presence then includes inconsistent information that can cause confusion amongst those wanting to interact with the entity and missed opportunities as some use the outdated information to contact or learn about the entity.
In summary, one's online presence, real-world credibility, and business dealings are all intertwined such that a negative impact to an entity's online presence can ripple through and affect the entity's credibility and business interactions. Therefore, there is a need for entities to verify their online presence. Specifically, there is a need for a particular entity to verify the profiles that represent that particular entity so as to ensure accuracy of information, to prevent damage to the particular entity's credibility, and to prevent fraud, identity theft, and other wrongful acts and crimes from occurring under the guise of the particular entity. Similarly, there is a need for the particular entity to verify the information that is about or pertaining to the particular entity online to ensure timeliness and accuracy of information as well as to prevent fraud, identity theft, and other wrongful acts and crimes from occurring. However, some entities do not have the time, resources, or expertise to verify their online presence and others are simply unaware of the full extent of their online presence. As such, there is a need to automate such verification. Specifically, there is a need to fully identify an entity's online presence across various service providers and there is further a need to facilitate verification of the profiles and information constituting the online presence with an authoritative source.